"Happy new year!!", screamed my friend on the phone. "Yeah, Happy new year to you too", I replied. Happy new fucking year, I thought. "So man, what's up?", he asked cheerfully. Why is everyone so happy on new year's day? The morning's the same, your daily routine doesn't change much, your life isn't going to undergo any drastic changes just because of a change in the date on the calender. "Nothing much. Got classes to attend. Got a report to finish.", I said. When would this guy hang up, I thought. Why do you have to pretend you are happy about a new year when you know that pretty much the same old shit is gonna happen to you afresh. I think he caught the boredom in my voice. "Yeah, I have to rush to office too. Catch you later", were his final words before hanging up.
So, lets see, I thought and I looked around my room. Yup.....the dream I had of waking up somewhere else hadn't come true. The same old walls stared back at me, same old clothes hung from the pegs of my door, and the clock screamed at me to ready myself for the same old routine of classes and assignments. But then a look at the time table told me that some good fortune had passed my way. I was saved from the grind of classes that day because of some fortunate choice of subjects. Yes.....this is my lucky day (one out of the 9000 I had lived so far), I thought and went back to bed.
2010 was upon me, as it was upon the rest of the world. I would become a 'Rural Manager' this year, I would (hopefully) get placed in some job with a 20 grand salary and I would finally leave this place I had been in since the last two years. I would bid farewell to my friends and hope to see them again some time in the future, or maybe not. There were going to be some new things happening in my life, but would they be happy things, I wasn't sure. When new year hadn't been happy for the past 25 years, why would this one be?
The phone rang. "Happy new year!!", screamed another friend. If only I could get my hands on him, I would have wrung out all the happiness from him, but alas, wishes don't come true in my case, as I had found out earlier. Isn't it easy and fun wishing a happy new year to people you know are going through a worse phase in life than you? The same people had predicted that good things would happen to me in 2009, that I would get thin, that I would finally find my calling, that I would find a girl who would be big hearted enough to tolerate me, that my M.Tech degree would finally be of some value. One year hence, these people are still wishing me pretty much the same things.
Apart from my birthday, new year's day is the second worst day I hate. Having gone through 12 months of misery, depression and unfortunate things, New Year's day reminds that you that the same old dates are going to be repeated again, albeit with new misfortunes coming your way. If only there were a break between the two years. Just two days.....with no dates. When you can do anything you like and society wouldn't frown upon you, when your friends wouldn't get hurt by things you say, when your parents wouldn't mind the stuff you would do, and when the long arms of law wouldn't reach out to catch you. Yeah, I would look forward to those two days. I would sleep through the day, drink through the night, I would pee anywhere I want to, I would scream bloody murder at any person I want to, and would spend my day with the music of Jimi Hendrix and some good old grass accompanying me.
My eyes open, I hope that my wish had come true at least this one fucking time. Yeah, and cars could be run on water.
The phone rings. I pick it up. "Happy new year!!", screams another friend......
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